Royals finish second at home invitational

Caitlin Duske competes on the balance beam earlier this season for the Watertown-Mayer gymnastics team.

The Watertown-Mayer wrestling team cruised to a 57-10 win at Norwood Young America on Friday, Jan. 4, moving to 5-0 overall in duals and 2-0 in the Minnesota River Conference.

NYA actually took an early 6-0 lead with a pin at 106, but it was all Royals the rest of the way. The Royals won four decisions, three major decisions, three pins and three forfeits in en route to the victory.

“They graduated quite a bit from last year, when we only beat them by three,” Watertown-Mayer coach Joe Traen said. “They’re a pretty scrappy team, and I think our guys actually felt like they didn’t wrestle all that well. That’s partly because they put up some extra blocks on us and did some things that slowed us down. Overall it was a good night.”

The Royal were without a pin on the night until a string of three straight starting at 182 pounds, where Logan Cooper earned a pin in 3:26. Austin Torres followed with a pin in 1:52 at 195 pounds, and Nick Burns had a pin at 220 pounds in 3:58.

At 145 pounds, Joe Jobe earned a major decision with an 18-6 win, and Jon Vouk’s 8-0 win at 160 pounds was also good for four points for the Royals.

Also winning by decision for the Royals were Jackson Sweeney, Bryce Duske, Bryce Kallenbach and Davion Franklin. Traen said Franklin’s 3-2 win at heavyweight was a great way for the Royals to close the match.

“We had a good finish at the end,” he said. “He went the full six minutes, and that’s always a good thing. I think he’s starting to get in shape now.”

The Royals also picked up three forfeit wins in a row in the middle of the match. Adam Traen (126), Matt Elsenpeter (132) and Aaron Sweeney (138) all picked up wins by forfeit.

The Royals also hosted a triangular against LeSueur-Henderson and Glencoe-Silver Lake on Tuesday, and are back on the mat on Thursday, Jan. 10, for a match against Chanhassen in New Prague at 6:30 p.m. The Royals will also compete in the Paynesville Area Tournament on Friday, Jan. 11, beginning at 4 p.m.